MR. STANZEL: Good morning, everyone. We are on our way to Cleveland,
Ohio. I'll give a run through of the President's day, and then take
your questions. The President had his normal briefings this morning at
8:00 a.m. On Air Force One today we have Representative Steve
LaTourette, Republican from Ohio.

At 10:45 a.m. the President visits GrafTech International, Ltd.
GrafTech manufactures carbon and graphite products for industrial
applications, and they also engineer and are developing new fuel cell
components from natural graphite. So the President will take a tour
there. At 11:40 a.m. the President will have some lunch with community
leaders in Cleveland. We'll announce that location once we get closer
to that. You should all have the list of participants for that lunch
already.

At 1:00 p.m. the President is visiting Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland
Clinic, as you're probably all familiar, is a not-for-profit,
multi-specialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and
hospital care with research and education. And the President will take
a tour there and have an opportunity to discuss with the leaders at the
hospital how they are working to improve quality of care through
information technology and outcome measurements.

At 1:45 p.m. the President will make remarks to the Greater Cleveland
Partnership, with is a association of companies in Northeast Ohio. And
they have approximately 16,000 members. And there will be about 400
invited guests to that, including members of the partnership of the
Cleveland Clinic and local business leaders.

So that's the President's day. And with that, I'll take your questions.

Q Scott, in the speech, can you give us a preview of what the
President is going to address related to Iraq?

MR. STANZEL: First of all, the President is coming to Cleveland today
-- he'll talk about a number of things. This is really an opportunity
to have a deep dive on the important issues that the President believes
are impacting the American people. The President will talk about the
issue of Iraq and the war on terror. He'll also talk about how Congress
should move forward on energy legislation, and also on health care and
how we empower individuals to have greater care -- greater ability and
authority to make their own health care decisions. So much in the way
that we did last year in Miami and Chicago in June and July, this is an
opportunity to take a deep dive.

On the issue of Iraq, the President will continue to talk about the
things that he has discussed in the past, and that is why it's important
to continue to take the fight to the terrorists. The surge, as we've
noted, is just a couple weeks underway, in terms of the full complement
of troops.

As you may have heard him talk about on the 4th of July, you know, we
all want to get to a day when we don't have 159,000 American troops on
the front lines. We want to get to a time when the Iraqis are better
able to account for their own security and have made progress on the
economic and political fronts. So there will be an opportunity for the
President to talk about that today, as well.

Q -- focusing on that -- is that going to be a real focus, about
wanting to get the troops back or drawing down?

MR. STANZEL: I think -- you know, the President, going back, all the
way back to January 10th, when he announced the new way forward, he
talked about how we had to have -- we made a commitment through the
Baghdad security plan, to have an increase in the number of troops to
bring greater stability, to provide that breathing space so they can
make progress on the economic and political and security and training
issues.

So the President will continue to talk about how he believes that we
should try to get to the goal that all Americans, we believe, want, and
that is a stable, peaceful Iraq where they can be an ally on the war on
terror and not a home base for al Qaeda, which is what would happen if
we had a precipitous withdrawal.

Q Is there a shift in strategy at all? You know, politically, if not
an actual military --

MR. STANZEL: The shift in strategy occurred with the new way forward,
which is now two weeks underway. And that was a dramatic shift in
strategy, based on the input that the President received from commanders
on the ground and leaders in Washington. That operation is now just two
weeks underway in its full array of troops.

So the President believes that this June -- or, July 15th report will be
an opportunity for an initial snapshot of how that is going; just an
initial snapshot after a few weeks. September 15th is another time to
provide an assessment and receive some recommendations from commanders
on the ground.

Let's note that Congress debated this issue for 100 days. They debated
the Iraq war funding for 100 days. Then they put in place, in passing
that, they put in place two opportunities to get those updates: July
15th and then two months later on September 15th. So we are just now in
the beginning phases of that.

Q Scott, is it a shift in message, not so much a shift in strategy,
but do you want to highlight the fact that he does want to draw down
troops?

MR. STANZEL: Well, I think if the President has been saying that we
want to get to a place where we do not have as many Americans on the
front lines and Iraqis have taken more control over their security -- if
he's been saying that since January 15th, maybe that hasn't been
reported, maybe that hasn't been noted, but he said it as recently as
July 4th. And I can --

Q Would you say he's trying to -- I mean, we know he's said that in
the past, but is he trying to reemphasize that today?

MR. STANZEL: I think those are your words, Martha, but he, in his
speeches --

Q But you seem to be going back -- we know he's said all that. Is he
reemphasizing this today because --

MR. STANZEL: But you're not reporting it, Martha.

Q Yes, we have. Of course, we have.

MR. STANZEL: That's the key difference here, is there is this
impression that the President doesn't want to bring the troops home. He
does. And we --

Q So you're trying to reemphasize that?

MR. STANZEL: Those are your words, Martha.

Q Are they accurate?

MR. STANZEL: I would say you will hear the President's remarks and you
can make your assessment then, just in time for the evening news.

Q Is he going to address the July 15th report that's due this week?
Is he going to talk about it?

MR. STANZEL: Stay tuned.

Q Scott, do you know when that report ends? I mean, whatever
information they're gathering, was it a week --

MR. STANZEL: I don't know the window. I can try to get you that
information.

Q Do you know whether it was two weeks ago, or whether all the surge
forces were in place?

MR. STANZEL: I don't know the window of assessment, so we can try to
get that for you.

Q Can I ask you about something else? On Libya, there's a story out
from the news service over there that the President had Fran Townsend
deliver a letter to Moammar Gaddafi this week. Can you tell us anything
about that, what did the letter say?

MR. STANZEL: I'm aware of that report, Toby, but I'll have to gather
more information for you.

Q Can you even just confirm --

MR. STANZEL: I will have to gather more information for you. I'm aware
of the report, but don't have anything for you on that.

Q Any response to Pakistan's response to the Red Mosque siege?

MR. STANZEL: That's an internal matter for the Pakistani government to
address. What remains clear is, in places throughout the world the
threat of extremists is real, but that operation is a matter for the
Pakistani government.

Q Scott, can you respond to The Washington Post story today on --
that Attorney General Gonzales received multiple reports from the FBI
about lapses in the procedures safeguarding the use of national security
letters and other procedures of that sort? Should Gonzales have acted
on those reports from the FBI?

MR. STANZEL: I would refer you over to the Department of Justice on
that. I've certainly seen that story and I know they've had comments in
it, but I don't have any information for you on that.

Q Is it appropriate for a Cabinet officer to ignore reports from
below about wrongdoing within his agency?

MR. STANZEL: I'm not aware that that's the assertion. But maybe that's
the assertion you're making, but the President has said repeatedly that
he has great faith in the Attorney General, and that has not changed.

Q Will the White House be looking into and evaluating his performance
in this regard?

MR. STANZEL: With response to the story, you mean?

Q With response to these reports that the FBI had --

MR. STANZEL: What reports?

Q The FBI reports about improper following of procedures, safeguards
on national security letters and other things.

MR. STANZEL: That's -- you know, Maura, that's all I have for you on
that. We'll continue to -- I'll try to gather some more information for
you on that, but I'd refer you over to the Department of Justice for
more facts about what reports they may have received --

Q But he still has --

MR. STANZEL: -- about this story.

Q He still has faith in the Attorney General, despite the fact you're
just -- I mean --

MR. STANZEL: The President's views on the Attorney -- the President's
views on the Attorney General have not changed.

Q So it doesn't matter about this story, or they don't want to look
into it before you make a statement like that?